Eventually, a not so seamless battle has come to an end. Supreme Court in a verdict declared that adult gay sex is not a crime, sexual orientation is natural and people have no control over it. Section 377 of Indian Penal Code in 1861 outlawed sexual activities claiming them to be “against the order of nature” and conceived gay sex as a punishable offence during the British eon.
“The law must be interpreted as per the requirement of changing times. Consensual sex between adults in a private space, which is not harmful to women or children cannot be denied as it is a matter of individual choice. Section 377 results in discrimination and is violative of constitutional principles,” said SC.
Indeed it has been one of the greatest milestone set by the country in the history of India in favor of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community. A five-judge bench incorporating Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, and Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra unanimously stood out with the decision.
“Section 377 is irrational arbitrary and incomprehensible as it fetters the right to equality for LGBT community…. LGBT community possesses same equality as other citizens,” said CJI Dipak Misra.
“A decision that was eagerly awaited, to prevent the ostracism the people have been through, to get the legal acceptance, stand out in the society with dignity and not with shame in the eyes of people for themselves, deep-sixed the unbiasedness on the grounds of sexual orientation, to validate their existence, and many such more disparities that need to be discarded from the society.We have finally got justice. We are finally ‚Äòazaad in azaad Hind,”¬†said Ashok Row Kavi LGBT rights activist and founder of Humsafar Trust.
To the decision, Justice Malhotra stated that the society owes an apology to the LGBT community. “Members of LGBT community members and their family members are owed an apology from society for being denied equal rights over the years,” said Justice Malhotra.
The SC has set a benchmark after the verdict and has been very firm regarding the decision. It says no matter what even a small but a significant community of society is not supposed to be underprivileged and be deprived of all the basic rights. They should not face any social ostracism on the grounds of their sexual orientation.
Probably the first time the LGBT community stood in the society with heads raised without any fear of being judged and looked upon with shame and shed their tears of happiness.
